


November Sixth

by orphan_account



Series: The Usual Crowd [2]
Category: EXO (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Crying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 11:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9438938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "...Kris was on there before he left and he’s in bold now because we really don’t want to watch Joonmyun pound quite that much vodka again for at least a month."Or, the one where Namjoon ends up with a lapful of crying leader.Sequel toThe Usual Crowd.





	

**Author's Note:**

> You’ve suspended your disbelief thus far. I need you to suspend it some more, because the date was a Thursday and I’m pretty sure EXO was busy. I neither know, nor did I look for, happenings on Kris’s birthday 2013. Things I did do for this chapter include deep analysis of how much a 5’8, 143-lb man can drink before dying, because I am 5’7, 130, and female, and listening to “Goodbye” by 2NE1 on repeat. *wiggles my little angst-writer fingers*

The wall behind the bar is taken up by a row of chalkboards, neat handwriting detailing daily specials on one, and on all the others declaiming the long, long list of Things We Don’t Talk About. The bar is polished wood, and on it, a row of shots sits in a haphazard line in front of Joonmyun. Namjoon sits uneasily next to him, watching as Joonmyun unlocks his phone, glances at the screen, and knocks back two of the shots.

Namjoon is by no means sober, but he’s not on the way to being completely slizzard like Joonmyun is, either. He’d gravitated toward the bar when his Sunbae Senses had started tingling, and he’s currently waiting for Joonmyun to get sloshed enough to drop _Suho_ and tell Namjoon what’s wrong.

They haven’t gotten _very_ close since Namjoon’s debut, but there’s generally an easy détente between EXO and Bangtan. When Namjoon had shown up in the bar on Hakyeon’s arm, fresh off a haircut and dye job, Suho had been among the first to introduce himself, begging Namjoon, “Call me Joonmyun, please,” with what Namjoon still thinks of as the manufactured affability of the disgustingly rich and internationally famous. The problematic bit is that Joonmyun turned out to be genuinely likable, full of awful jokes and dorky laughter, a doting leader, a terrible dancer.

(The last few things have been carefully filed away under Things Namjoon Will Not Analyze Sober.)

Namjoon sits patiently as Joonmyun refuses to meet his eyes, staring instead at his phone, still and silent on the bar, and at the line of shots in front of him. Namjoon feels like he’s intruding on a private moment, Joonmyun sighing, slumping in his chair, taking another shot. If it were one of his members, he’d reach out and touch them, let them know they weren’t alone and that they had all the time in the world to talk. Joonmyun is a different beast altogether, different even from the other SM leaders, fragile under the weight of maintaining a facade of perfection while carrying more members than are in Namjoon’s entire group. Even after two of them departed, maybe especially then.

It had been Jinki who’d pulled Namjoon to the side earlier and said quietly, “He’ll need someone tonight, and he won’t let me see him break down again. Please, I’d consider it a repayable favor.” Namjoon had not hesitated, pressing a hand to Jinki’s shoulder and waiting until the opportune moment to slide into the seat next to Joonmyun.

Joonmyun turns his phone over and over in his hand, nursing a glass of water between drinks. Finally, without looking up from the bar, he says, “He cried on his last birthday with us. We threw him a party and I got him a different colored candle for his Korean age, and the members all bought him little things. _All_ of them. And when Chanyeol gave him his present, he looked at me and said, ‘Joonmyunnie, did you wrap this for him? It’s surprisingly not a disaster.’” Joonmyun picks up one of the shot glasses and considers it for a moment before tilting it back and downing the liquor. “After it was over, he came into my room and I held him as—as he just _cried_.”

At least, Namjoon muses, he knows why Jinki had asked him to be the one with Joonmyun. They’re all leaders, and they all have different styles, and it’s obvious that Namjoon’s quiet attention is what’s needed here, desperately. He presses his lips together and nods sympathetically. Joonmyun sighs again, as if his feelings are too heavy to bear without showing strain. “I don’t know what I expected. I hoped, I guess, that I’d forget.” A bitter laugh makes its way past Joonmyun’s lips. “Instead it just _hurts_. I don’t think I’ll ever forget his birthday.” Joonmyun keeps laughing, drunkenly incredulous, as he throws back his fifth shot.

Namjoon is ready when the laughter tapers off into desperate sobbing, one of Joonmyun’s hands clutching his phone like a lifeline as he allows Namjoon to draw him into an embrace. Joonmyun trembles against Namjoon’s chest and Namjoon runs one hand soothingly up and down Joonmyun’s back, pressing the other against Joonmyun’s hair.

“ _Yifan_ ,” Joonmyun whimpers brokenly, tears soaking into Namjoon’s t-shirt, voice thick. “ _God_ , it _hurts_ —“ He’s clinging to Namjoon now, letting Namjoon drag him over to the couch which currently houses half of an intense game of Never Have I Ever. At Namjoon’s approach, they scatter, and Namjoon sits heavily, Joonmyun in his arms. He lets Joonmyun’s tiny limbs wind clumsily around him, anchoring Joonmyun as hoarse cries wrack his body, well on his way to being too drunk to remember this in the morning.

Joonmyun unearths the hand holding his phone, and Namjoon watches as he unlocks it, the reason he’s been playing with it all evening suddenly clear. When the lock screen slides away to reveal Joonmyun’s home screen, the background is Joonmyun and Kris, arms thrown around each other’s necks as Joonmyun flashes a peace sign and Kris laughs, bent over to accommodate Joonmyun’s height.

“They want me to forget him. They want me to— _ignore_ him, but I’d give so much to _talk_ to him, I have his number memorized but I _can’t_ —I _need_ him—“ Joonmyun’s shaking renews itself and Namjoon tightens his arms and lets Joonmyun shudder apart. “ _My_ Yifan,” he whispers, and Namjoon thinks, _No, not yours, because this isn’t the pain of requited love. This is what happens when you never tell them._

**Author's Note:**

> Did y’all enjoy this? Should I stick with humor? Should I write other characters? I honestly wasn’t planning on continuing this, but everyone seemed to like it so.
> 
> Those who don't know the Story Behind Kris can read a bit about it [here](https://www.soompi.com/2015/07/31/kris-wu-yi-fan-releases-official-statement-in-response-to-sm-entertainments-lawsuit/). There's unfortunately not a happy ending to this.
> 
> Hit me up on [twitter](http://twitter.com/slowlorisvevo) or [tumblr](http://rapjoonhyung.tumblr.com) for a chat :D


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